Gender and Sports

The ongoing gender-related disputes about who should be allowed to participate in sports competitions can be solved very simply. The process of creating sensible competitive guidelines has evolved over decades, and will continue to evolve. The “trans” crisis in sports can be easily handled with no further blood spilled, jaw grinding, or panties in a twist.

There usually is some logic to what sports categories we create. We have various games for people in wheelchairs. You’re either bound to a wheelchair or not. Being on a Harley doesn’t pass the test. There are basketball leagues for those under 6’. If you’re 6’1” but slouch, no dice. We have “senior” circuits. If someone is 45 but feels like he/she is 70, they can’t compete with the codgers. We simply check their birth certificate to decide. We have weight classes in many sports. A boxer who weighs 225 lbs may move like a fairy-dusted ballerina, floating across the ring as if he were a feather being blown by a breeze. But sorry. He’s not going up against a featherweight, except maybe to play billiards. Most paradigm-shifting of all, the creation of the Paralympics continues as a brilliant innovation, which has so many benefits and bonuses, they’re too numerous to recount here. But stubbing your toe or being dyslexic is not going to get you into the Paralympics 400-meter race. There are clear rules.

All of this categorization is purposeful and comprehensible. It keeps the playing fields level, precludes unfairness or unfair advantage, fosters identification and camaraderie, and keeps the various sports interesting for the spectators.

So here’s my solution . . .

No more men’s teams. No more women’s teams. No more boy’s sports. No more girl’s sports.

We have XY competitions and XX competitions.

Submit some DNA, we’ll tell you which stadium to report to.

QED.

John Rachel has a B.A. in Philosophy, has traveled extensively, is a songwriter, music producer, neo-Marxist, and a bipolar humanist. He has written eight novels and three political non-fiction books. His most recent polemic is The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World. His political articles have appeared at many alternative media outlets. He is now somewhat rooted in a small traditional farming village in Japan near Osaka, where he proudly tends his small but promising vegetable garden. Scribo ergo sum. Read other articles by John, or visit John's website.